signifies the globe that we inhabit, in which sense it has been illustrated in the preceding articles, and sometimes the mould in which vegetables grow. This mould has been analysed by chemists, and found to consist of a variety of substances, without order or regularity. The larger portion, however, of its materials, are a number of small bodies, having several properties, in the possession of which they resemble each other; and these are classed together, and denominated earths.

Every body, then, that has the following properties, is an earth:

1. Insolubility in water; at least when combined with carbonic acid. 2. Little or no taste or smell ; at least when combined with carbonic acid. 3. Incombustibility; and incapability, while pure, of being altered by fire. 4. A specific gravity not exceeding 4.9. 5. Capability of assuming, when pure, the form of a white powder.

The earths at present known are eight in number: 1. lime, 2. magnesia, 3. barytes, 4. strontites, 5. alumina, 6. silica, 7. jargonia, 8. glucina.

The characteristics above recited are not, perhaps," rigorously applicable to each of the species; but these bodies are similar in a number of properties," sufficient to render their classification under one head convenient.

1. Lime is found in every part of the world. › It' is discovered in its purest state in limestone, mar-' bles, and chalk: none of these substances are strictly speaking, lime; but they are all capable of becoming lime by a well-known process, by keeping them for some time in a white heat: this pro

cess is called the burning of lime; the product is denominated quicklime: this last substance is what is called lime.

2. Magnesia was first known in the beginning of the eighteenth century, when a Roman canon offered it, under the name of magnesiu-alba, as a cure for all diseases. It is procured in the following manner: sea-water, and the water of many springs similar to those of Epsom, contain a salt called sulphat of magnesia, and composed of the earth in question and sulphuric acid. This salt is dissolved in water, and half its weight of potass added. The magnesia is immediately precipitated; because potass has a stronger affinity for the sulphuric acid: it is then to be washed with a sufficient quantity of water, and dried.

S. Barytes is an earth contained in a very heavy mineral found in Sweden, Germany, and Britain.

4. Strontites, an earth contained in the Strontian mineral, which has been found in Argyleshire, and near Bristol, in England; in Pensylvania in the United States; and in France and Sicily; and is of a white colour.

5. If one part of powdered flints or sand, mixed with three parts of potass, be put into a crucible, and kept in a melted state for half a hour, a brittle substance is produced which may be dissolved in water; and, an acid being poured into the solution, which is called liquor silicum, or liquor of flints, a white, spongy substance is precipitated: this substance, which, when dry, is a soft white powder, without either taste or smell, is called siliceous earth, or silica.

6. Alumina is an earth obtained from alum, dissolved in hot water.

7. Jargonia, contained in a precious stone, called the jargon or zircon.

8. Glucina, an earth discovered by M. Vauguelin in the beryl.

The first four of these earths are sometimes called alkaline earths. See VOLTAISM, under which ar ticle will be given some account of the decompo sition of several of these earths.

EASTER, a festival of the Christian church, observed in memory of our Saviour's resurrection. The Greeks and Latins call it pascha; an Hebrew word signifying passage, applied to the Jewish feast of the passover, to which the Christian festival of Easter corresponds. It is called Easter in the English, from the goddess Eostre, worshipped by the Saxons with peculiar ceremonies in the month of April.

It is appointed by our rubric that Easter shall be celebrated upon the first Sunday after the first full moon immediately following the 21st of March. It requires some calculation to find the true time of Easter, unless we first know when the full moon happens: to save this trouble we shall give a table by which it will easily be found.

dall dagst dais

The use of this table is as follows: Look for the golden number of the year in the first column, against which stands the day of the paschal full moon; then look in the third column for the dominical letter, next after the day of the full moon, and the day of the month standing against that letter is Easter Sunday. When the full moon happens on a Sunday, then the following Sunday is Easter-day.

Examples. In 1811, the golden number is seven, against which is April 7th, and the dominical letter being F, (the letter which is opposite to the 7th of April) Easter-day will be the Sunday after, or the 14th of April.

EASTLAND company, a company of merchants incorporated in the 21st of the reign of queen Elizabeth, and impowered to trade to all places within the Sound, except Narva, the only Russian port at that time in the Baltic. This company is at present inconsiderable, the trade to Norway and Sweden having been laid open to private merchants, by act of parliament.

EAST-INDIA company, a company of merchants trading to the East Indies, and Canton, Amoy, and Chusan, ports of China, incorporated about the 42ď of queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1600, and impowered to trade to countries to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, exclusive of all others. About the year 1698, application being made to parliament by private merchants, for laying this trade open, an act passed impowering every subject of England, upon raising a sum of money, for the supply of the government, to trade to those parts. A great subscription was accordingly raised, and the subscribers were styled the New East-India Company; but